Guide · updated 19 October 2026
Alcove wardrobes or alcove units: making the most of a chimney breast
Victorian terraces and 1930s semis often come with a chimney breast and an alcove either side. The alcoves are almost never the same width, and the walls are rarely square. Bought furniture leaves gaps; fitted furniture fills them. The question is what to put there, and the room usually decides.
In a bedroom: alcove wardrobes
In a bedroom, the alcoves are the natural place for wardrobes. Each one is made to its own recess, full height, with hanging, shelves and drawers inside, and scribed to the walls and ceiling so it looks built in. The chimney breast can be left showing, or the run can carry across it with shallower cupboards or an open section, which is what we did in Loughborough: Harrington wardrobes in Fjord matt either side, with an open section over the breast for the television. In Sileby, Stockholm fluted wardrobes frame wood-effect shelves across the breast.
More on this in fitted wardrobes for alcoves and chimney breasts.
In a living or dining room: alcove units
Downstairs, the alcoves usually take cupboards at the bottom and shelves or cupboards above. Open shelves can be lit with dimmable LED strips in warm or neutral white. In Nottingham, Porcelain white shaker units have staggered, lit open shelves either side of the stove. In Mountsorrel, one alcove holds a tall cupboard planned around the customer’s appliances and the other a bar area with a wine rack.
If you’d like the television and a fire on the chimney breast, the alcove units become a media wall. See media walls and alcove units.
Questions to answer before the visit
- What needs to go there? Clothes, books, a bar, appliances, the television?
- Open or closed? Open shelves show things off; cupboards hide them. Most rooms work best with some of each.
- Should the chimney breast stay a feature? Leaving it showing suits a fireplace you love; covering it gives more storage.
- Skirting, picture rails and coving. We either scribe around them or cut them back neatly, agreed at the visit.
How it’s done
Aaran measures each alcove on its own at the free design visit and draws the furniture in 3D with you. Every filler and end panel is scribed to the wall and ceiling on site, so the units meet uneven plaster cleanly. You get one price that includes everything, fitted, and most rooms are fitted in one to three days.
Book a free design visit, or see more of our work.
Questions people ask
Can fitted wardrobes go either side of a chimney breast?
Yes. Each alcove is measured on its own, because they are almost never the same width or depth, and every panel is scribed to the wall and ceiling on site so the wardrobe fills the recess with no gaps.
What's the difference between alcove units and alcove wardrobes?
It's mostly the room. In a bedroom the alcoves take full-height wardrobes with hanging inside. In a living or dining room they usually take cupboards below and shelves or cupboards above, often lit, sometimes with the television and a fire on the chimney breast between them.
Can the chimney breast be covered as well?
Yes. The run can carry on across the breast with shallower cupboards in front of it, or leave it showing with the units stopping neatly against its sides. We draw both at the design visit so you can choose.